...Do the monsters and the victims in horror films have any connection to contemporary social issues? Answer with reference to one or two horror films of your choice. Name: Leopold Riess Course: IR 140 Global Communications, Citizens and Cultural Politics Word Length: 1902 Story telling is an art that has been part of the human civilizations since time immemorial. In the different parts of the world, be it in Africa, the Caribbean or the European nations, the early human societies would use narrations for a variety of purposes such as entertainment, passing time or more importantly to communicate the values, traditions and principles that governed the specific society (Tudor, 1997). With the emergence of different religious schools of thought, narrations and later film work developed an inclination towards the depiction of evil versus good. The descriptions of the horrific nature of hell and the terrible demons there in was meant to scare shaky religious affiliates from deserting their faith. Since then the development of the horror film genre has advanced. According to Hogan (n.d) the first ever horror film to be produced in America was Frankenstein by Thomas Edison. In the contemporary day, the production of horror movies has been exaggerated with hard headed teenagers being the most preferred characters. As a matter of fact, some horror movies such as Friday the 13th and Freddy Vs Jackson were so popular that they made 234.6 and 224.8 million US dollars respectively...
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...smelled his fear, his struggle to escape and this dragged us further in rage. He ran out of a door into the light of day and we realized at this point, for now, he was out of reach. We got a better glimpse of him once he entered the light: he was the cause, one of the creators of what we are. We are the Dark Seekers and we are a creation of man’s greed. We are the monstrous creation of his kind and we must destroy that from which we are created. Through film, directors can show us a world in which mankind is only surviving on a thread of hope. They can show us a society that only lived to further progress today, condemning the future to the aftermath of their carelessness. They can warn us, visually, of what we as human kind are capable of producing in a way that no other media can. Film itself is a product of human advancement in technology; furthermore, a monster in itself. With this advancement we as society are instilled with visual aids and special effects depicting the horrors that come from taking technology or medicine too far. Film makers show viewers that delving too deeply into technology in order to satisfy our immediate desires without considering the future...
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...cinematography in 1914 and soon after made memorable films such as The Three Musketeers (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), and the much-admired The Lost World (1925). By the 1930s, he combined his creative talents “with director James Whale, for whom he photographed the first three of Whale's quartet of horror films: Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), and The Invisible Man (1933)” (Wikipedia). Edeson’s cinematic technique can be seen elsewhere in film like The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sergeant York (1941), Casablanca (1942), The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), and Three Strangers (1946). The excellent cinematography in Frankenstein evokes a surreal and mysterious quality, perfectly matching the thunder and lightening storm above the gloomy castle in classic black and white imagery, and capturing that German Expressionism completely, from acting to set design, everything is wonderfully filmed, but as film critic Leonard Matlin mentions in his book Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1994, “It’s creaky at times, and cries for music score, but it’s still impressive” (Maltins 441). Historians will point out,...
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...story and the film? About the novel (Frankenstein): This novel functions on symbolic many levels such as Frankenstein’s monster symbolize the coming of industrialization to Europe also the destruction and the death...
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...His character is an imperative film element of the scene. Shrek’s persona is that of a fearless individual that is on a quest to regain control of his property. He is an ogre and for that reason alone he is perceived by the citizens as a lesser being with numerous negative connotations attached to the stereotypes implanted on his race. Despite the ruthless connotations that an ogre is supposed to embody, Shrek has humor, courage, and he does not see the need to resort to violence unless he himself is...
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...the Male Monster in Halloween and Halloween H2O” wrote by Kelly Connelly, introduces a new idea about women in slasher films. In the article, Connelly states that women in films dealing with slashing, will have to learn and be able to face the masculine traits of the killer to be able to surive and be the “Final Girl” (13). Kelly uses the movies Halloween, Halloween 2, and Halloween H2O to describe the relationship that is used in each of these movies. The relationship she describes is the female-male relationship, which would be considered the male killer and the Final Girl (13, 14). A few traits that Connelly describes that the “final girl” has is that she is never sexually active and she often acts more like a boy than a woman. If she sees something that is not normal or is out of the ordinary then she is automatically assured to go check to see what it is which causes her to receive the traits of being smart and attentive of her surroundings (14). Clover has come to see that Laurie achieves empowerment as the final girl based on her ability to stay alive long enough to be rescued in the first film, Halloween (14). But twenty years later in Halloween H2O Laurie had become of age as the true final girl” by assuming the male characteristics of her attacker, which would be a necessary step in defeating the slasher film monster. The lessons Laurie learned in Halloween and Halloween 2 will permit her to finally triumph as the final girl by defeating the male monster in Halloween...
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...mediate the ‘problem’ of the social. How significant is ideology, as well as genre theory, to your case-study? This essay will explore the ways in which the horror genre perpetuates repressive and oppressive social institutions, value systems and codes of behaviour surrounding the homosexual subject. It will be suggested that the generic conventions of horror films sustain repressive understandings of the normative order which position the homosexual subject as a threatening ‘other’. This essay will offer the opinion that it is through these representations that the horror genre produces the ideological figure of the ‘monstrous homosexual’. The discourses and ideologies explored will primarily be those relating to coding of the homosexual subject as predator and paedophile. This essay will engage with genre theory in order to demonstrate how narrative repetition in the horror genre mediates the homosexual subject as a disruption to the social order which must be eliminated in order to restore the heteronormative order. The methodology of genre theory will first be outlined, and the generic conventions of the horror film will be explored. The methodology of discourse analysis will also be employed in order to expose the ideologies at play in the case study. This essay will take Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm St II: Freddy’s Revenge as a case study in the examination of the oppressive and repressive social institutions, value systems and codes of behaviour which are perpetuated...
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...Gojira remains as a film that is a worldly illustrative of the 1950's, and the danger of atomic fighting. With the memories of Hiroshima Nagasaki still crisp in executive Ishiro Honda's mind, the story of a monster made from the works of war decimate the very society that created its disfigurement. This unleashed monster is an agreeable illustration for the atomic gadgets that fell upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki, wreaking destruction that would keep going for quite a long time to come. Japanese opening of the film was a first after war film to gather addition a global success. Gojira is a science-fiction/horror film around a mutant animal from the Jurassic period with atomic forces, brought to life as an after-effect of the nuclear blast and close-by atomic bomb testing. In 1956, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, also directed by Ishiro Honda, was discharged in the United States as an American rendition of the first Japanese film. This variant was intensely altered with English dubbing and the deletion of many different scenes. These changes occurred deliberately in a political manner for the American audience and appeared as another creature film. While Gojira metaphorically portrays Japan's after war injury, for example, the nuclear bombings, decimation, and annihilation, the depiction of such pivotal messages are lost in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The original Japanese motion picture sends a solid messages of atomic attacks and teaches the onlookers of commitments to use new...
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...The movie, The Babadook, is categorized as a horror movie and normally, one would not think that a horror movie would have a real message to convey, certainly not one good enough to be studied in a film class. The Babadook contains themes of mental illness, abuse, and loss throughout the entire film. These themes are achieved through the usage of color scheme, dialogue, character action, and character train of thought shown through those actions. In the end it all culminates in a brilliant show of the monster, darkness, and the mother standing up to what The Babadook represents, even accepting it for what it is. Mental illness, although not directly said in the movie, is suggested throughout the entire film. Color schemes, dialogue, and...
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...The story of Beowulf represents what qualities a hero should embrace. Many heroes are portrayed as men with god-like gifts, or born half god; Beowulf is simply born strong, courageous, brave, and selfless. He does what good he can do where he can. His mood and tone are always that of someone doing the good deed, for the sake of the deed itself. In the film Beowulf, filmed in 2007, the hero still retains some of his virtuous qualities but in a smaller form. Beowulf still comes to Hrothgar’s to repay his father's debt, however, in the film Beowulf gives lust, and is clearly attracted to Hrothgar’s Queen. In the book, Beowulf does not think twice about the queen. His virtues keep him from drifting off task, as he is simply there to kill the monster, which plagues the Danes. The film may not have meant to, but does portray Beowulf as prideful concerning his achievements. A portion in the story addresses Beowulf’s swimming race with Breca. In the film, Beowulf is matched in strength with Breca and claims he was saving his strength for the last loop. In the book, Beowulf makes note that he and Breca were tied, and neither could beat each other. Unferth challenges whether or not Beowulf can even beat Grendel, because of his loss of the swimming race. Beowulf’s response in the book shows his maturity and a level head. Though he is young he manages to answer very calmly, traditionally Beowulf would have had rights to challenge Unferth, despite having this opportunity Beowulf declines...
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...As time travels forward the image of Godzilla advances as technology becomes enhanced and the original puppet version from 1954’s becomes a third dimensional model of a T-Rex like monster which is crossed with a stegosaurus which is known as the dinosaur with plates on the back with a spiky tail. This creature has evolved from physical material to virtual material which gives him more of a Sci-Fi base due to the extra features which can be generated. The evolution of sound, editing technique and camera angle also was used in the film but was improved to a new level thanks to the newer technology that was developed. The scene that gave a great aspect of sound and camera angles was the part when Godzilla rose up from the sea side of the city...
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...Movie Clip – Monsters Ball Shelia Hill ENG 225 English Introduction to Film Instructor: Janelle Jalbert February 25, 2013 The movie “The Monsters Ball” is a romantic drama film. This is about a young black woman Leticia (Halle Berry) who is a single mother to an obsessed son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun) and who his father Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs) is on death row. They were very both artistic artists. Monster's Ball is a very dark movie, and it's definitely not for kids. It's such an ugly depiction of life that it made me cringe at times. A lot has been said about its graphic sex scene. Well, I didn't think it was too graphic, but it was starkly realistic and completely not glamorous. Like the rest of the film, it was ugly. And like most of the film, it was unflinchingly real. Leticia is struggling financially to raise their son while her husband is in prison on death row. She eventually took a job working as a waitress at a diner to make ends meet. Which resulted in her sons Tyrell death one night when they were leaving the diner her son was struck by car. “The Monsters Ball”. And when Leticia meets Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) who stops on the side of the rode to help her take her son to the hospital which he later died. “The Monsters Ball”. And from that night Leticia and Hank went their separate ways until one night Hank sees her leaving from the diner and gave her a ride home which resulted to wild sex. “The Monsters Ball”. After that night Leticia went...
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...Lets turn a little more into the future with the 2003 film the hulk this is a incredible remake of the original film form the 80’s. All this man was doing is getting angry and it triggered him to become viscous monster but why does anger have to make him evil anger can make strong to defeat anger out of evil not a good hearted anger an anger reveled to the audience that he was the monster that stopped monsters.. moving forward years later another yet great remake the incredible hulk 2008 film directed by great man who directed other successful action films created hulk fighting a monster so big and crazy that his name was literally the abomination a scary animal with a spine like dinosaur back then he became outta hand but what can we say the hulk the incredible hulk comes in and saves the day once again. Lou was also in the avengers as the years went on all those nnede3d Mr. Ferrigno back in action!! Now let us get real here and talk about how he managed his hearing loss and ear infection all his life with it being a surprise that he can never hear again and sign to the whole world learning sign language for him was his next big challenge who could have known that the fact that we cant understand why things happen but he didn’t take as a bad thing in fact he took it as a blessing to learn new skills besides the monster...
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...of the novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck and the 1952 version of the movie East of Eden I view the movie to be a translation which becomes a broader and somewhat more accessible version of the original story. Even though the movie was created to capitalize on the huge monetary success of the novel, the film makers felt the need to drastically change the film in a way that changes the principal tone and meaning of the story. I feel that the arguments made in the movie are radically different from the ones made in the novel and by my definition, the movie a poor translation of the original novel. The original novel by Steinbeck had been highly anticipated and when it was release it found high sales while it received mixed reviews from critics and was highly controversial. 1950’s America wasn’t used to seeing an Asian man in such an important and powerful role in their literature. The controversy surrounding the novel gave the film adaptation and opportunity to correct itself in America’s eyes by excluding Lee. The act of excluding Lee, an Asian character who the general audiences were not expecting to see and be such a powerful force in the novel, opens the film up to a wider...
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...Aspects Of Your Chosen Horror Film Make It Horrific? In the following essay I will focus on the horror genre as well as horror aspects from the film, "An American Werewolf In London," (D. John Landis 1981). Whilst "An American Werewolf..." isn't one of the most horrific films made, and is at heart a black comedy, it still includes a lot of codes and conventions of the horror genre which makes it not only a horrific film, but one of the most memorable werewolf films in movie history. Using special effects and filled with bloody gore, "An American Werewolf" still looks as horrifyingly real as it did 27 years ago. Opening on the eerie Yorkshire moors, "An American Werewolf" centers around two American backpackers who are attacked by a werewolf after leaving a small village in the middle of nowhere. Having been warned by mysterious locals not to leave the road or go onto the moors, the two ignore the warnings and pay for it when one of them is killed and the other bitten by the wolf. In these opening fifteen minutes, the follows many codes and conventions used throughout the horror/monster genre. The first convention is the gothic setting of the opening that is the yorkshire moors. Typically of the horror genre, the setting is shown to be damp, cold, dark and full of mist. Preying on the audience's fears of being alone in the middle of the wilderness the film displays the truly horrific nature of isolation. Like any typical horror film, the setting for the attack...
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